Seminar

Abstract

Secondary organic aerosol is formed by oxidation of volatile precursors resulting in products of lower volatility, which then partition to the condensed phase and form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This presentation will address a number of aspects, including i) conditions driving either new particle formation (NPF) or condensation on pre-existing particles, ii) further fate of highly oxygenated molecules (HOMs) in the aerosol phase after condensation, iii) SOA formation from complex emissions and its implementation in regional models, and iv) state of the art source apportionment of SOA beyond discrimination of SOA components by their volatility or degree of oxygenation. Many of these results rely on recent developments in mass spectrometry in both the gas and condensed phase, where concerning the latter the extractive electrospray ionization time of flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF) deserves special mentioning.

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Urs Baltensperger leads the Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Paul Scherrer Institute. He earned his PhD from the University of Zurich, before joining the Paul Scherrer Institute. He has co-authored more than 370 peer-reviewed papers. His recent awards include the Royal Society of Chemistry Spiers Memorial Award and Fellowship in the American Geophysical Union.